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History of LISP

Abstract

The goal of this project is to collect, preserve, and present source code, design documents, and other materials concerning the original LISP I/1.5 system, and as many of its follow-ons as possible. LISP was one of the earliest high-level programming
languages and introduced many ideas such as garbage collection, recursive functions, symbolic expressions, and dynamic type-checking; it is still in use. This is a project of the Computer History Museum's Software Preservation Group. The editor appreciates comments, suggestions, and donations of
additional materials.

This project is dedicated to Professor Doctor Herbert Stoyan, who has dedicated many years to tracing the development of Lisp from its birth in John McCarthy's project at M.I.T. through its world-wide diaspora, and who very generously donated his Lisp archives to the Computer History Museum: the Herbert Stoyan Collection on LISP Programming, Lot Number X5687.2010. Stoyan's collection may be searched via the finding aid or the Museum's catalog.